Friend in need...or another scam...?

[Dreamstalker]

One of mom's friends got joe-jobbed by it (the bizarre thing is, she was sitting in the drawing group when the email/update came in so everyone who was there knew right away). Sadly I think a few of her friends who weren't there believed it, and at least one sent money via Paypal so the scammer probably got that account as well...

[Mikkel]

You could always email the embassy, I'm almost sure you'll get a fast answer. If you ask about your friend by name they shouldn't have any difficulties checking. I don't believe there can be that many armed robberies in London .

[phantasy]

I second Mikkel's post. Send an email to the mentioned Embassy and include the email. They'll confirm or deny that your friend was there, or maybe even was in London.

You said Texas, so maybe you can contact the American embassy as wel and see if he left the country by his name, but then you would probably need his passort #.

Send a response email to the guy. Ask for the passort number, and if he brings up some lie, then it's definately not your friend since he mentioned "excluding my passort" which would mean he still has the passport.

[smileyeagle1021]

Add me to the list of people who say scam. I know from experience that if you have an emergency while overseas the US Embassies will allow you to use their phones to call the US. I had a friend lose his backback while in Italy (his backpack which included all his travel documents and passport and most of his currency), the Embassy didn't even blink at his request to be able to call back to the US to have his family to let them know about the situation.

[Bright_Star]

It's a classic scam. Your "spider sense" is tingling like crazy cause deep down inside you know it's phony as a three dollar bill.
Don't fall for it.

[Andara Bledin]

The syntax makes me think "English is not the primary language" which is what screams scam to me the most.

^-.-^

[lupo pazzesco]

Thanks all. I'm glad to know I'm not crazy. (well, I am, but it's nice to know in this instant I'm justified).

I sent my friend an offline IM, asking him to text me, since he still has my number, though I don't have his, so I can at least tell him he's been hacked if he doesn' t know. now that I've had time to get actual sleep (This came pretty late last night, after I'd written a paper and studied for a final, so I was kind of out of it.). he writes so much better than that, and is a sub teacher, so his grammar and syntax are far superior to that drivel.

Much as I'm tempted to respond, I think I"m giong to decline, and now that I'm nice and paranoid...I'ma change all my passwords. After sending him the offline IM on AIM last night, I left it on in invisible mode, and came home to find an alert that I was signed into two different locations. Weird, right?

What a week!!

[Sonoma]

The syntax makes me think "English is not the primary language" which is what screams scam to me the most.

^-.-^

That's exactly what I noticed with it. Reads exactly like the format of some of the 419 scams.

[Caveat Emptor]

I just read on the Monroe County (NY) Sheriff's Crimestoppers how a resident reported being locked out of her Gmail account and her friends were sent emails saying she was in trouble in Wales and needed money. Scary stuff, fortunately the victim was able to contact her friends before anybody sent money.

[Magpie]

Variants of this were pulled on churches in my husband's denomination. They picked a big name, and called, saying that he was stuck at the airport because of an unexpected airport tax. Of course, they really need to pick a denomination that doesn't pride itself on knowing every single other person to pull that one, but beware of this at work too.

[Andara Bledin]

And this is one of the reasons why you should make sure you have strong passwords for all of your online accounts. Also, a reason why you don't click on links in email messages, either.

^-.-^

[Pagan]

Oh, it's a scam.

For one, is this someone that you would expect to ever be in London?

And yes, the wording. "the London, United Kingdom"?

I got one of these once supposedly from a friend that doesn't even have a passport. And I was actually talking to her on the phone at the time. I asked her if she knew she was in London.

[Jester]

So many things scream scam.

Syntax. Grammar. Someone you don't have much contact with asking you for money.

But for me, it comes down to a basic thing. If I were stuck in a foreign country and got mugged and had no money and had to call home, I would do what anyone else who is stuck in such a situation would do--I would call collect. I mean, anyone who knows me well knows that if I am calling collect from another country, I am obviously in some serious shit.

"Well, Jester, if your phone was gone, you might not know anyone's number." True enough. But if I can have access to a computer and the internet, don't you think I could look some numbers up? Email someone closer to me?

I certainly wouldn't email someone I didn't have much contact with.

[lupo pazzesco]

Well, we are in contact a lot, just...never via phone. He and I email each other on a regular basis and chat on AIM a couple times a week. I've known him for almost 10 years. Of course, NOW that I need to get a hold of him and tell him he's been hacked, I can't find him. Or, rather, I find him on white pages, with no phone number listed. Fantasticals. Just fantasticals.

Plus, he wasn't planning any out of the country visits, we were actually talking about me flying down to Florida to visit him this summer, so we could be complete kids and go see the new Harry Potter exhibit at the theme park. Yes, we are dorks.

I just wish I could get a hold of him, and am kicking myself for not writing down the contact list before my phone got fubared. I inputted most other numbers, but his and a few people I didn't talk with on the phone regularly had me saying, "Oh, I can do it later...:

[AccountingDrone]

Well, we are in contact a lot, just...never via phone. He and I email each other on a regular basis and chat on AIM a couple times a week. I've known him for almost 10 years. Of course, NOW that I need to get a hold of him and tell him he's been hacked, I can't find him. Or, rather, I find him on white pages, with no phone number listed. Fantasticals. Just fantasticals.

Plus, he wasn't planning any out of the country visits, we were actually talking about me flying down to Florida to visit him this summer, so we could be complete kids and go see the new Harry Potter exhibit at the theme park. Yes, we are dorks.

I just wish I could get a hold of him, and am kicking myself for not writing down the contact list before my phone got fubared. I inputted most other numbers, but his and a few people I didn't talk with on the phone regularly had me saying, "Oh, I can do it later...:

Old phone bill? Sometimes they have phone numbers ....